2013 Clutch Reading Challenge discussion

Let's discuss part one of Wench here.

Part one is mainly about ladies Lizzie, Reenie, and Sweet (the regulars at Tawawa House) & Mawu the newcomber. It seems that the women have a common bond. What do you think of these women?

I was a bit put off by Mawu at first, but that's probably because, from the protagonist's POV, she was shaking up the natural order.

I have to pull my book back out to really give this a great discussion but I remember loving and hating the book. Loving it because the author is a GREAT writer and the narrative as hard as it is to believe is one that is probably true, now we know the "hotel" existed but we don't know the true feelings of the women that were brought there. But it's not hard pressed to imagine that some enslaved women did have emotional ties to and love for those that kept them enslaved.

Continualknowledge, I too have a love/hate opinion about the book. The author did an awesome job telling the story, I sometimes felt I was among these women. A few times tears formed.

Leonicka, Mawu was different but I grew to like and respect her. She is the stronger of the four women (IMO).

All the women have a story, some worse than than the other.

Just finished Part 1. I think these are some interesting women. I am very irritated with Lizzie right now because of her actions. I don't want to spoil it, but you know what I mean. I think Lizzie is naive and because of her naivety, dangerous. I like Mawu's spirit of resistance. Sweet and Reenie are intriguing. What a talented writer! Ok, back to the book now... more later...

Rosa you are right! Dangerous & NAIVE!!!!!
She is very young and believes in Drayle.

I love the way you set this up, Ang. I'm starting the book this weekend, so I can't wait to get reading and comment on the different parts. Thanks!

onegirl, just going by the chapters in the book, but thanks!

I am having the hardest time getting into this book, y'all. I'm sad about it, because I was so excited to read it... You guys seem to be enjoying, so hopefully I'll get over the hump soon. Did it start out slow for any of you guys?

yeah a little slow

Yes I started and stopped several times before I got through it. But it gets better :)

Ang, I agree about Mawu. She ends up making the women confront some harsh truths I think.

When I started reading it I did find it a little slow. I had a hard time because the backdrop was just too hard for me to believe. I know now that it is based on historical fact, but when i was reading it I just couldn't imagine white men taking slave women on 'vacation' with them without their wives. And the dinner with slave women, northern and southern men just didn't ring true to me. As the book progressed i did rather enjoy it. Couldn't put it down. But first I had to get over my own resistance to the story's set up. I think the author should have mentioned that its based on historical facts (not entirely) at the beginning of the book instead of the end. Overall good read though.

The first part of this book made me feel very sad and uncomfortable. I had trouble as Jaronda did accepting slave masters on holiday with their slave women, but the story was intriguing and very hard to put down. I read part 1 in a few hours. I didn't like the way the author transitioned from one scene to another. At times I had to go back and reread the passages before to make sure I knew where I was in the story. That could have been done a lot better. Lizzie is my least favorite character because of her naivety, which is explained in Part 2. Even though, Lizzie must have had her eyes and ears blocked to not understood the situation of slaves better. It was as if she didn't consider herself a slave. Lizzie is a child in every sense of the word in spite of her age. Almost finished Part 2. To be continued.....

Deirdre, Lizzie is a child and VERY naive. I don't think that she considered herself a slave because of living in the BIG HOUSE. The other slaves didn't really accept her. If she wasn't selected as Drayle's prize she would have understood more about being a slave. Lizzie was not allowed in the fields but in her masters home and that made her think for a moment that she was better than her fellow slaves.

I totally agree, but the correction that Mawu gets doesn't seem to phase her one bit and that was unforgivable. Raised in the BIG HOUSE but has her eyes closed. I found that interesting that she lived before with the old, blind woman who made soap. This is almost like an excuse for her being naive - no real guidance and no family.

Diedre, I agree. Lizzie's lack of sympathy/empathy regarding Mawu's "correction" was unforgivable!! For me even with her background, to cause such pain should have illicited some type of basic human feeling from her. Plus, she told Drayle 'don't let him beat her hard' - so she knew what she was doing. At least a little bit... :(

I agree Rosa. Lizzie is a very unsympathetic character.

Rosa wrote: "Diedre, I agree. Lizzie's lack of sympathy/empathy regarding Mawu's "correction" was unforgivable!! For me even with her background, to cause such pain should have illicited some type of basic h..."

Lizzie definitely has a lot to think about during her 8 day boat ride back to Drayle Plantation. Just maybe it sunk in that she was selfish and unsympathetic. If her children had to endure the pain Mawu & Phillip endured she would no longer be naive.

Hi all,
Although I agree that Lizzie is terribly naive, I completely disagree that she is unsympathetic. She had a quite poignant response to Mawu's punishment, seemingly attempting to atone for it from that moment on.

As for the "vacationing", the parallels evoked a deep sadness for me. Slave with free Blacks, the pretense of a respite (while still made to work!) only to return to a slave state, playing house with a man who literally owns you but could take or leave you (more for Lizzie than the others). Absolutely heartbreaking.

I don't think her response to Mawu's punishment was so poignant. She was and continued as if the slaves should fall in line. I don't think she really started to question anything until things started to really go wrong for herself and her children. She was the antithesis of intelligent.

Can someone tell me the book for march?

I'm not sure it's been decided on yet. It seems as if it's between NW by Zadie Smith or something by Octavia Butler. Go on the march book thread and check out the discussion and express which you prefer.
Jaronda wrote: "Can someone tell me the book for march?"